Is Your Brain Making a To-Do List About Your To-Do List? Here’s How to Calm the Mind and Find Clarity
If your brain has been acting like a project manager with a whistle and a clipboard, I have good news: we don’t have to attend every meeting it schedules.
Somewhere along the way, the mind decided that “staying on top of things” means:
- making a mental to-do list
- then making a better to-do list
- then mentally rearranging the to-do list while trying to fall asleep
- then waking up tired because you basically held a meeting in your head at 2:14 AM
And the wild part is: we’re often doing all of that because we want clarity. We want the “right next step.” We want the message to come through.
But when your brain is broadcasting on ALL THE CHANNELS, clarity gets buried under static.
Why Clarity Doesn’t Come From Thinking Harder
Here’s the truth that most overthinkers learn the hard way:
You can’t think your way into calm—but you can calm your way into clearer thinking.
A loud mind and/or overthinking is often your nervous system multitasking—trying to plan, predict, prevent, and prepare. The “solution” usually isn’t more thinking. It’s rest that’s deep enough to tell your body: you’re safe right now.
When the body settles, the mind doesn’t have to keep yelling to get your attention—and that’s when clarity starts to show up on its own.
This Week’s Intention and Journal Prompts
If you’re craving clarity, here’s a simple way to work with that this week—without thinking harder.
Intention
My mind is calm and I can see clearly.
Journal prompts
- What gets clearer when I stop forcing an answer?
- What “mental meetings” am I attending that I could cancel?
Think of these as a way to turn down the static so the signal can come through.
The Nervous-System “Reset” That Actually Helps
You know how when your computer gets weird and you call IT, and 99% of the time they say, “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” It’s so annoying, but highly effective.Your mind is kind of the same. When it’s glitchy, loud, and running twelve programs at once, the answer usually isn’t “think harder.” It’s a reset.
This is why I love Yoga Nidra: it’s a guided rest practice that helps your system power down long enough to come back online clearer. Not because you forced clarity… but because you created the conditions for it.
What I Do
Hi, if you’re new here, I’m Bonnie. I help women step out of the loop of “not good enough → try harder → still not enough,” so they can find calm, clarity, and confidence—without forcing change—and show up exactly as they are.
My work is compassion-first and nervous-system-led, using Yoga Nidra (deep, healing guided rest), somatic breathwork, and intuitive insight.
First we rest. Then we rise.
First we rest. Then we rise.
LISTEN TO MY FREE YOGA NIDRA MEDITATION
If you’d like to experience this kind of rest for yourself, I’ve made a free Yoga Nidra meditation you can listen to anytime.
Access the free meditation here:
Guided deep, healing rest for a calmer mind (listen anytime).
If you want to practice live with me, I also guide an online yoga nidra class weekly (Tuesdays at noon ET, with replays).
The information presented here is for entertainment and informational purposes only. The information in this post is subject to interpretation and is an expression of opinion. It is not intended for, and does not replace professional, medical, legal, business, and/or health related opinions and advice. It is not a substitute for counselling or any other type of therapy, or medical advice from qualified professionals.
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